Sinn Féin calls for Citizens' Assembly on Irish unity

Party spokesperson on Higher Education, Rose Conway Walsh, said 'momentum for a united Ireland is growing'

Sinn Féin spokesperson for Public Expenditure Mairéad Farrell compared the partition of Northern Ireland and the Republic to 'driving with a puncture.' 

A Citizens' Assembly on Irish unity must be held immediately, the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis has been told.

The party's annual meeting began with a session on Irish unity, with speakers saying that elements of the Irish Government and media were out of step with desires to see a united Ireland.

Sinn Féin's Public Expenditure spokesperson Mairéad Farrell told the event that the country is "driving with a puncture", and a move to a 32-county country was both inevitable and necessary.

We must see the immediate establishment of a Citizens' Assembly to being the planning process in a structured way. We now need to re-imagine, plan, and include everyone in the conversation.

Ms Farrell said that the current Stormont arrangement does not afford politicians north of the border enough power with which to make meaningful decisions.

"In the North, Sinn Féin representatives do their absolute best for the people they represent. But the fact is that Stormont simply does not have the required fiscal powers needed to effect real and meaningful impact on people in the north. 

The north’s economy has been held back by this lack of fiscal control for too long. The fact that the north’s economic development is being hamstrung by British government policies affects our entire nation.

"We are driving a car with one slow puncture and it cannot continue."

The party's higher education spokesperson, Rose Conway Walsh, said it was "undeniable" that "momentum for a united Ireland is growing".

Party MLA Declan Kearney said that the discussion on a united Ireland had been brought about by Tory governments, and that "the Brexit madness foisted upon us all by them and the DUP has turned a dial".

He said that a "new discussion has begun about a new way forward for our island — built on progress, pluralism and shared prosperity".

"Of course, that doesn’t mean Irish unity is inevitable, but it has become one of the most dominant and defining discussions in society. 

"The unionist electoral majority has gone, and the unionist veto is finished. Many from Protestant backgrounds and unionist traditions have begun to reassess their economic and social priorities in the context of reunification, and as a route back into the EU," he said.